failed instantiation of a custom plugin silently fails and forces subsequent lifecycle phases to not be attempted

[James Bowkett <JB...@cygnanegra.co.uk>]

Continued from thread: [missing dependency with aggregator and modular
builds in maven-release-plugin in maven 2]

 

I have traced my release problems back to my own custom plugin and its
interaction with maven, the relevant details are:

 

1.       I have a custom plugin module "jar_signer" that is built as part of
my overall build that I use in another module "research_client"

2.       The jar_signer module is used as a sign implementation class for
codehaus' webstart-maven-plugin

3.       The release plugin does not increment the build number on my
plugin/dependencies/dependency -IS THIS BY DESIGN/A BUG/KNOWN FEATURE?...I
could see how it could be by design (perhaps a little under-documented?).
Similarly, I could see how this may have been overlooked and is a bug

4.       The jar_signer is invoked by the webstart plugin and when this is
attached to the package phase and the plugin cannot be instantiated (because
I started with a clean maven repository and the plugin is available in the
reactor, but not it would seem at execution of a later lifecycle phase and
module build), then mvn install fails, and then install is not attempted for
subsequent modules too - AGAIN, IS THIS BY DESIGN/A BUG?...Further, the
failure of instantiation is not really reported (and thus its side effects
of halting other installs in my build lifecycle have been difficult to track
down)

 

So in summary, my questions are:

 

If a plugin cannot be instantiated should we be warned/the build fail at
that point?

If a plugin cannot be instantiated, does maven try and soldier on but just
skipping those later lifecycle phases for subsequent modules?...if so,
should it do it so quite so quietly?

Are the lack of these warnings, bugs in maven, or are they bugs in the
webstart plugin, or are they by design?

Should the release plugin have the facility to update the build numbers for
a plugin's dependencies? (The more I think about this, the more I think the
answer is probably no...)

Should the latest build (if that build number is required) of a custom
plugin be available to plugins if that plugin was successfully built
already?...The reactor already works out that the custom plugin should be
built first

 

Thanks in advance,

 

-James